A
tribute by Eric Este, a friend from his school…

Wing
Commander James Hardy Marks DSO and Bar, DFC

A remarkable story of leadership and heroism

Jim Marks was born in 1918 and came to
live at 8, Knight Street, Sawbridgeworth in 1920. He went to Fawbert and
Barnard School and then to Newport Free Grammar School (1930-36). A tall,
fair-haired well built young man, he was an excellent sportsman with a quietly
authoritative presence.

On leaving school in 1936, he obtained his civilian flying
ticket and joined the Royal Air Force in 1937. He quickly was able to fly solo
(April 37) but was thoroughly trained as a pilot at No. 10 Flying Training
School, Tern Hill. On 24th May 1938 he, along with others, was
selected for an Empire Day Display at Martlesham Heath; in January 1939 he was
with those who gave a display to an Arab delegation and the top ranks of the
service. It was always the best pilots that were chosen for displays.

When war was declared on 3rd September 1939 the
initial policy was to drop leaflets on the Germans in the ‘phoney war’. He
was engaged in these raidsbut on 1st
November he was instructed to fly to RAF Dishforth for an Inspection by King
George VI and the Chief of Air Staff, Sir Cyril Newall and Sir Hugh Dowding.

He then resumed as either first or second pilot on leaflet
raids. Although the war was ‘phoney’, the flak was not!

In January 1940, the policy changed and
his aircraft was among the first to drop bombs on Germany at Sylt. He
encountered heavy flak. He was then engaged on raids on places as far apart as
Posen, Prague, Warsaw, Hanover, Trondheim (at 1000 ft) and Oslo, etc. etc. and
he was mentioned in dispatches “for gallant and distinguished services”.[CLICK HERE for details: Ref 1].

In May 1940, German forces advanced and
he was out most nights. For example on May 20th whilst attacking
bridges in France his aircraft suffered a direct hit which disabled the
hydraulic system and he had to land without flaps – a difficult undertaking.
The following night May 21st, he raided Cologne and returned on one
engine. On May 23rd Quesney Cross-roads in France.May 25th Walcheren, May 27th Neuss railway junction
and so on.

On June 1st, Flying Officer
James Marks was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). “He has shown
tenacity of purpose, a high courage and thoroughness of planning and execution
which is beyond praise”. [CLICK HERE for more details: Ref
2].

In June 1940, Jim
Marks suggested that it could be helpful to use the fires at Rotterdam as a
navigation reference point to achieve more accurate bombing of targets.The first attempt was a failure and, although frustrated, he persuaded
his Squadron Commander that they should go out the following night and try the
system again. This time it was a success, the targets illuminated by flares were
successfully bombed.[CLICK
HERE for more details: Ref 3].

On 6th June, Mr Churchill
instructed the Chief of Air Staff to be prepared to bomb Italy, if and when they
declared war. On 8th June Italy declared war and on 10th
June Jim Marks was involved in a raid on the Fiat Works in Turin. On the return
flight over the Alps both engines failed – but his training enabled him to get
them re-started. His log book merely says “rather hectic”.Altogether he took part in 11 raids in June. There was then a respite
during which he was assessed as “exceptional as a heavy bomber pilot and
navigator”.

In March 1941 he was engaged in
operations again and bombed the Scharnholst and the Gneisenau in dock at Brest.
In April 1941 he attacked Emden and was attacked over the target. He was saved
by bullets hitting the 500lb. bombs that he was carrying; one engine was put out
of action and his Whitley’s tail rudder was partly carried away by the
M.E.110, which it is thought then crashed.Jim Marks ditched the bombs and coaxed the aircraft back to Bircham
Newton. This was approximately 400 miles of which at least 50 were over enemy
country. On the way a 500 lb bomb had to be released by hand. The Commander In
Chief issued a personal commendation to all ranks for “the courage,
pertinacity and airmanship displayed by the crew”. Jim was mentioned in
Dispatches for the second time. [CLICK HERE for more details:
Ref 4].

In April 1941, he was promoted to
Squadron Leader. Throughout May and June he was engaged on raids over Germany:
the 1000 bomber raid on Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen again, Dusseldorf etc.

He bombed Berlin and the battleships in Brest, this
raid being in daylight. In March 1942 he was promoted to Wing Commander
and made Squadron Commander.

On 30th March he led the
squadron on an attack on the Tirpitz. Although the ship was heavily defended, he
went in at 200 feet (his log says 150 feet). He repeated the attack on 27/28th
April and was awarded the Bar to his DSO.[CLICK
HERE for more details: Ref 6].

Both King George VI and Winston Churchill came to
inspect his Squadron.

There were then raids on Germany (Essen, Hamburg etc.).
Wing Commander Marks, now Station Commander and Squadron Commander, considered
that the front turret gun on the Hurricane was a hindrance and so he had it
removed from his aircraft and replaced by a Perspex section. The Air Vice
Marshall was impressed and he joined a party taking the aircraft to Handley-Page
at Radlett. The modification was accepted and incorporated in Halifaxes from
October 1942.

His log says that he was awarded a Bar to his DFC on August
15th, but official records do not confirm this.If such an award was contemplated, it may have been for the idea of a
Pathfinder Force.In June 1942 the
idea for helping bombers find their target more easily was developed to become
the Pathfinder Force. He and his Squadron and two other Squadrons formed the
Force and Wing Commander Marks led his Squadron on the first Pathfinder raid
which was on Flensberg.

On 19th September, when he
was about to be made Group Captain, he stepped in at the last moment to take
over a pilot’s place on a raid attacking Saarbrucken. On the returning flight,
the plane was shot down; although he kept the plane in the air for three of his
crew to parachute into captivity, he was killed.

On the 50th Anniversary (19th
September 1992) a memorial to him and his crew was unveiled at Blesme in
France, where the plane had crashed. The photograph shows the Mayor and
the sole living survivor, the Flight Engineer, Mr W.G. Higgs (Bill) at the
unveiling ceremony.

There was a memorial service and the representatives
and the crowd were led by a band from the Memorial to the Church and then
on to a Memorial Dinner in the Town Hall.

Twelve
years later, on 19th September 2004, Jim Marks' life was again
celebrated with the unveilling of a plaque in Sawbridgeworth's Memorial
Hall by his sister, Mrs Joan Walters. The event, was organised by the
Rotary Club, The Memorial Hall Trustees, The Air Training Corps and the
Town Council.

The plaque was donated by the Town Council in
recognition of Jim Marks' special place in the town's history. Guests and
well wishers included members of his family, the Mayor of Sawbridgeworth
Councellor Joyce Vincent, the current Head of Newport Free Grammar School
Mr. Richard Priestley and Ron Pearson, the National Standard Bearer for
the Bomber Command Association.

From
left to right: Ron Pearson (National Standard Bearer for Bomber Command
Association), Chris Webb (President of Sawbridgeworth & District
Rotary Club), Eric Este, Mrs Joan Waters (Sister of Jim Marks and wife of
former Vicar of High Wych, The Revd John Walters), Councillor Joyce
Vincent (Mayor of Sawbridgeworth) and The Revd Rory Reynolds (Priest
in Charge at High Wych)

The two hundred people present watched a
Lancaster bomber, from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, fly low over
the Hall, four times, in a
special and fitting tribute.

Recommendation
for Honours & Awards

Command
or Group: No. 4 GroupUnit:
No 77 Squadron
Give particulars of the meritorious service for which the recommendation is
made, including the date and place.

On the night of 30/31 May,
1940, he was detailed to attack an important bridge. Although being heavily
fired at, he carried out three runs at 1000 feet.

On the night 23/24 May, 1940, he
was detailed to attack a cross roads. Owing to cloud he could not see the
ground. He therefore waited over his target for an hour and a half for the moon
to come out and enable him to carry out his task more accurately.

On the night 25/26 May, 1940, he
was detailed to attack a certain cross roads. Finding the weather over his
target to be too bad to enable him to distinguish his point of aim, he flew
west, saw finer weather coming, so waited one and a half hours in the
neighbourhood of his target in order to ensure accurate results.

He has now completed 22
operational flights. Both as a second pilot, and since he has been a Captain, he
has shown a tenacity of purpose, a courage and thoroughness of planning and
execution which is beyond praise. As Captain of aircraft he has not only led his
crew in the air but has applied himself to their training on the ground with the
same thoroughness that has characterized his work in the air.

Strongly Recommended

Group
Captain Hamish Mahaddie recalls that his first experience of any disciplined
process of target finding was in June 1940 when serving as a pilot in 77
Squadron on Whitleys. Flying Offi­cer Jimmy Marks, later to lose his life when
a Wing Commander and CO of 35 Squadron, suggested that the great fires still
burning from the Luft­waffe’s attack on Rotterdam might be used as elementary
signposts for night bomber aircraft attacking targets deeper into continental
Europe. He proposed a carefully timed flight commencing over the Rotterdam blaze
and ending with the release of flares to pinpoint the target and allow for a
reasonable concentration of bombing. All the crews agreed that this was a
splendid idea and in the ideal conditions of an early sum­mer night, facing
little or no opposition, they set out to put it into effect.

Each aircraft in the elongated stream of 12 or so thought they did
precisely what had been agreed, but not one single crew member saw any of the
flares dropped by their squadron colleagues and accordingly dropped their bombs
on an unscientific best-estimate of the target’s location. Marks was
frustrated but undismayed and secured his squadron commander’s agreement for a
repeat performance the follow­ing night. This time only four aircraft
participated with the four most experienced navigators and great care was taken
to re-calibrate the Whitleys’ airspeed indicators and re-swing their
compasses. Stop-watches were used to time the flight in from the still-burning
Rotter­dam fires, and at the end of the timed run the agreed signals of Very
lights and flares were visible to all from aircraft which were within a
three-mile radius of one another. One flare clearly illuminated the tar­get, a
concentration of armoured vehicles and troops in a distinctive area of woodland,
and more flares were dropped before bombing began. Mahaddie believes that an
effective attack resulted, proving the value of disciplined navigational skills
exercised by a small number of experi­enced practitioners.

The Commander-in-Chief desires to
bring to the notice of all ranks in the Command the courage, pertinacity and
airmanship displayed by the crew of a Whitley aircraft which was detailed to
bomb docks and shipping at Emden on the night of 7th/9th April, 1941.

The Captain of the aircraft, No.
39670, Squadron Leader J.H. Marks, D.F.O., was just about to bomb when he was
attacked from the rear by a night fighter. The first burst hit the starboard
engine, which stopped, thereby immobilising the rear turret. A second attack
from below would had had far more serious consequences but for the protection
afforded by the 500 lb. bombs. On its final attack from head on, the night
fighter approached so close that it is presumed it must have struck the rudder
of the Whitley with its wing. Half of the rudder was severed completely, and
when last seen the fighter was banking over steeply in a dive as though one wing
was damaged.

At this time, in spite of
jettisoning bombs, the aircraft had lost height to 700 feet, and the Captain
decided to make for Norfolk., and at this height, limped across some 50 miles of
hostile and occupied territory. The Air observer, No. 745646 Sergeant Southon,
F.A., pulled up the floor boards and discovered one 500 lb. bomb which had not
dropped. This he released by hand, after which the aircraft climbed gradually to
1,000 ft. and a successful landing was made at Bircham Newton.

It is considered that the courage
and behaviour of the whole crew during this flight was excellent.

Covering remarks by Station Commander

I
cannot speak too highly of this young officer and I heartily endorse every word
his Squadron Leader says. A splendid type of officer in every way. He has richly
deserved the award of the Distinguished Service Order.

Recognition
for which recommended: 1st Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross ? DSO

Appointment
held: Squadron Commander

Particulars
of meritorious service:

This
Officer led his Squadron on a bombing raid on the German battleship
“TIRPITZ” on the 27th/28th April 1942 in addition to having taken part in a
similar attack the previous month.

The
enemy had concentrated heavy defences over the target area and this was well
known to this officer, but despite this fact he came down to about 200 feet and
flew through the fiercest of defences to press home his attack, releasing his
bombs on the ship or at any rate close to the ship.

In
addition to his own magnificent example of courage, his superb leadership, sense
of duty, enthusiasm, cheerfulness and determination which he exhibited at all
times were largely responsible for the gallant way in which the other crews of
his Squadron went in to the attack.

For
this I very strongly recommend that he be awarded immediately the First Bar to
his Distinguished Flying cross.

This
officer received his D.F.C. after completing 37 sorties and 249 operational
hours, and his D.S.O. after 43 sorties and 291 operational hours.